Tuesday, November 22, 2011

I've been working on some things for the Thanksgiving table using the items you see below.

More on the finished product in a later post.

Also have been doing some Christmas decorating.

My house is suffering from a split personality disorder right about now. The back of the house ~ family room and kitchen ~ is showing the signs of the harvest season, Thanksgiving. While the front of the house ~ living room/dining room, foyer ~ is decked out for Christmas.

You see, I'm loosing a weekend in December to travel to North Carolina for Son No. 1's college graduation. Which is certainly exciting, but not very time-convenient being the weekend before Christmas. So I'm trying to get as much done as possible before Thanksgiving without totally transforming the house into Christmas mode.

Speaking of Son No. 1, he flies home tonight for Turkey Day. He'll be here only until Sunday, but then he'll be home for good in about three weeks. I can't believe his college days are coming to an end. Where on earth has the past four-plus years gone???

Oh, I got a new toy!!! :o)

Well, it's not really all mine, although Hubby did set it up to read "Carla's Kindle" when it's powering up. Frankly, I don't know how much I'll use it. I simply don't sit around enough to play around on a tablet-thingy like this.

I did purchase my first mag subscription, though. At a $1.65 a month, it was a pretty good deal! I'm not a very gadgety-type person, but I will admit this thing is pretty cool.

On Sunday I finally started painting the kitchen chairs. I know, I know . . . I blogged weeks, months, ago about starting this project. Needless to say I've been procrastinating. That and the original spray gun we bought wasn't working properly.

the chair before

I've got two chairs primed and painted and one primed ready to be painted. That leaves three more chairs and the table to do. I'll most likely blog more about this project when it's nearly finished. But let me tell you, using that spray gun attached to the air-compressor is the sweetest thing going for painting furniture. The spray was perfectly fine and covered so nicely. It was actually pretty fun to use!

Once painted, I really want to accent the chairs with glaze, but Hubby doesn't think so. He thinks I should leave them as is. The color is not quite white. It's really a great color, actually, called Malted Milk. Guess I'll wait about the whole glaze thing until I get them all done.

I may not (well, I know for pretty sure I will not!) get all the chairs and table painted by T'giving, but I don't think my family will mind sitting on a few white and a few stained chairs . . . as long as there's plenty of turkey and 'taters'! ;o)

The chairs you see above are a fairly new purchase. I bought four of these chairs from Walmart's online store. They're in the BH&G line (they come in black too). Partial assembly was required, which was very easy, and they're quite sturdy and well made. And the best part was the price - $38 each! And if you have them shipped to the store for pick-up, there's no shipping cost.

I bought these chairs for a table I bought a few years back from a resale shop. It's a double gate-leg table that is in need of refinishing. Of course this projects been on the to-do list for a quite a while too. My plans are to paint the legs and apron in my fave paint right now, Malted Milk, accented with glaze, and restain the top.

It's a pretty sturdy table that can sit four comfortably, or six a little snugly. It was a good price at $65. Not sure if it's an "antique". The workmanship seems good, and it doesn't really have that look of being mass produced.

I've also been playing nurse to Son No. 2 since Friday. He had surgery to shorten a ligament on the side of his knee. Apparently they go in and fold over the ligament to get it back to the proper length. He has to keep that leg immobile wearing a long leg brace for three weeks, and it's been a pretty painful recovery so far.

As for my back, it's getting better and better every week. Perhaps my disc compression wasn't as severe as I suspected. After eight weeks, I'm still getting twinges of pain and numbness down my leg, with occasional lower back pain on days when I'm on my feet a lot, but I'm slowly regaining strength and range of movement with each week. Not quite back to 100% with my workouts, but I'm getting there.

Good thing!

With the Holidays here and being extra busy, I don't know what I would have done if I was in the shape I was six weeks ago.

3 comments:

Oh my gosh, you have so much going on Carla! It sounds like you are taking it all in stride though. My son will be arriving tomorrow and also has to go back Sunday. He still has plenty of school ahead of him, but I'm hoping to maybe get him to come for two weeks for Christmas.

Looove the new chairs and the one you painted. I MUST look into a spray gun for the compressor. Glad to hear your back is getting better. I hope all turns out as well for son #2 with his knee.And congratulations to son #1 on his graduation. How proud you must be. : )Happy Holidays,Mary Lou